Sunday, March 27, 2011

Sick kids and weird dreams

This month has been flu month for us. Everyone has been sick. Kate has had it twice, Aleah missed 5 days of school the week before spring break. Colleen was so sick that for two days all she did was get up, go to the bathroom, and then fall asleep on the floor. She slept more than 20 hours one day. Then Leila caught it when I was in St. Louis. The next week I had it. As long as I kept myself doped up on ibuprofen I felt OK, but major headache, achy fever and sore throat.

It looks like Colleen and Kate have fevers again, but at least Colleen is the most cheerful sick person ever. It makes taking care of her as pleasant as sick kids can be. This morning she has a fever again. I heard her get up and stumble around in the dark. When I found her she was coming upstairs from the basement in fresh PJs. She told me, "Little kids can't find the light, so had accident. In bathroom, uhhuh. That's right. In bathroom." She tried to clean it up, then she went downstairs, found fresh PJs and unders and just now went up to bed, because "me so tired."

I hope I am not coming down with it. When I was sick last week I had very vivid dreams every night and last night they were back. Some of my favorite dreams play like a TV show or a movie. These last night were like being in a Firefly episode in the Twilight Zone. There was a spaceship, run by my older brother - but not my brother brother, some other guy. There was a Pakistani woman, myself, a Hindu Indian, and some other people that are fading already. We were on some odd planet where physics did not seem to apply. Things could fly that were too big to fly. Some animals were invisible. Plants seemed to grow upside down and in the air. There was a mysterious spiral stairway that ascended into an ominous storm cloud. Most of the dream was about preparation for going up the stairs. We had a big feast made by the Pakistani woman - biryani and a series of small dishes that were spicy or sweet or pungent. Then another passenger accused her of taking his pistachios he had hidden away. I lied and told my dream brother I had eaten them. He tied me to a stake and left me that way as they walked up the staircase.